medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Dennis
Could you give us a short reading list without it being a bother to you?
Best wishes
Graham
****************************************
Dr Graham Jones
Lecturer in English Topography
University of Leicester
Centre for English Local History
Marc Fitch Historical Institute
5 Salisbury Road
Leicester LE1 7QR
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)116 252 2764
Fax: +44 (0)116 252 5769
e-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Web pages: http://www.le.ac.uk/elh/grj1
Here are my lists, complete with cryptic notations, I'm afraid.
Dennis Martin
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Carmignac, Jean, The Birth of the Synoptics, trans. Michael J. Wrenn (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1987) 109pp originally published as Naissance des Evangiles snoptiques
in 1963, to compare Qumran texts with Gospels, he retranslated the Gospel of Mark from Greek back into Hebrew and discovered all sorts of word plays
concluded that the Greek text of Mark could not have been redacted directly in Greek, rather, it was a Greek translation from Hebrew
Benedictus (Lk 1:68-79) -- in Greek it is not particularly interesting poetry, in Hebrew "to show mercy to our fathers" comes from "to show mercy" (hanan, root of Yohanan [John]); "he remembers his holy covenant" comes from zakar, root of Zakaryah (Zachariah); "the oath which he swore to our father Abraham", root of "to take an oath," shaba, Elishaba, Elizabeth
the second strophe begins by a triple allusion to the names of the three protagonists, but the allusions only work in Hebrew, not in Greek
many other examples
concluded that
(1) if 2 Cor 8:18 refers to a specific gospel writer, then the probable dates are Greek Luke ca. 50-53; Hebrew Matthew shortly thereafter, Hebrew Mark, ca. 42-45
but 2 Cor 8:18 is not scientific, so, if it is ignored, then the latest dates are
(2) Greek redaction of Luke not later than 58-60; Greek redaction of Matthew very shortly after; Semitic redaction of Mark before 50
Carmignac thinks Mark and Matthew and the document base for Luke were written in a Semitic language, either Aramaic or Hebrew, more likely Hebrew
thinks Gospel of Mark was written in Hebrew by Peter, with Mark as his secretary, translated into Greek, possibly with changes, possibly by Mark, ca. 63 A.D.
****
Claude Tresmontant, The Hebrew Christ: Language in the Age of the Gospels, trans. Kenneth D. Whitehead (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1989); originally Le Christ hebreu
Tresmontant used archeology (reference to John 5:2, five porticos of the Pool of Bethesda in present tense, i.e., still standing; came up with Greek text of John, 36-40 (Hebrew earlier); Greek Matthew by late 40s (Hebrew earlier); Luke and Mark later
see also John A. T. Robinson, Redating the New Testament (ca. 1981) and recent highly controversial writings by Carsten Peter Thiede regarding possible papyrus fragments in the 40s (Thiede co-author with Matthew D'Ancona, Eyewitness to Jesus [New York: Doubleday, 1996]) ( a popular-level treatment)
A convenient summary of the above is found in Kenneth Whitehead's "Foreword" to Claude Tresmontant, The Gospel of Matthew: Original Reconstructed Translation and Notes, translated from French by Kenneth D. Whitehead (Front Royal, Va.: Christendom Press, 1986), originally Evangile de Matthieu: Traduction et Notes de Claude Tresmontant (Paris: O.E.I.L., 1986), pp. 1-12
additional resources:
Kelly, George A., The New Biblical Theorists: Raymond E. Brown and Beyond (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Servant Books, 1983)
a thorough summary of the older Catholic approach to employing historical critical methods: Most, William G., Free from All Error: Authorship, Inerrancy, Historicity of Scripture, Church Teaching, and Modern Scripture Scholars (Libertyville, Ill: Prow Books/Franciscan Marytown Press, 1985, revised second printing, 1990), see also Bernard Orchard articles below--this represents the Catholic critical scholarship of the 1950s and early 1960s, after Divno Afflante Spiritu legitimized greater use of historical-critical method but before Catholic scripture scholars became totally absorbed by the conventional guild of scripture experts (Fitzmeyer, Brown etc.).
Laurentin, Rene, The Truth of Christmas Beyond the Myths: The Gospels of the Infancy of Christ, trans. Michael J. Wrenn and associates (Petersham, Mass.: St. Bede's Publications, 1986), originally Les Evangiles de l'enfance du Christ: Vérité de Noël au-del des mythes (Paris and Tournai: Desclée de Brouwer, 1982) written along the lines of Tresmontant and Carmignac, reliability of Gospels
some responses to Carmignac and Tresmontant from the guild of Scripture experts defending the conventional system of dates and priority of writing
Grelot, Jean, Evangiles et tradition apostolique: Réflexions sur un certain "Christ hébreu (Paris: du Cerf, 1984)
Murphy-O'Connor, Jerome, "Again Under Attack," The Bible Today, (March 1984)
Fitzmeyer, Joseph A., S.J., "Danger also from the Left," The Bible Today (May 1985)
Brown, Raymond E., Biblical Exegesis and Church Doctrine (New York: Paulist, 1985)
some materials regarding the historical and social/political context in which the Markan-priority theory first emerged (i.e., practicing historical critical methodology on the history of the rise of the historical-critical method):
Reicke, Bo, "From Strauss to Holtzmann and Meijboom: Synoptic Theories Advanced during the Consolidation of Germany, 1830-1870," Novum Testamentum, 29.1 (1987)
Wenham, John, Redating Matthew, Mark, and Luke (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1990)
Stoldt, Hans-Herbert, History and Criticism of the Marcan Hypothesis, trans. and edited by Donald L. Niewyk (Macon, Ga.: Mercer U. Press, 1980; Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1980), originally Geschichte und Kritik der Markushypothese (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1977)
Farmer, William R., Jesus and the Gospel: Tradition, Scripture, and the Canon (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982), Farmer was a Methodist scholar who came to question Markan priority and did some of the earliest historical-critical work on the historical-critical method itself--it's socio-political and church-political locus in 19thc. German Kulturkampf.
Wansborough, Henry, The Origin of the Synoptic Gospels (1992)
Peabody, David Barrett, "H. J. Holtzmann and His European Colleagues," Biblical Studies and the Shifting of Paradigms, 1850-1914, ed. Henning Graf Reventlow and William R. Farmer, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement Series, 192 (Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 50-131
some other related materials:
Orchard, Bernard, "Dei Verbum and the Synoptic Gospels," Downside Review, 372 (July 1990), ca. pp. 199-213
Orchard, Bernard, "The Formation of the Synoptic Gospels," Downside Review, no. 362 (January 1988)
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